When I left, the attorney(?!) who was seated a couple of seats down from me was also kicked off, but the two police officers, one of which was a specialist in their crime were still sitting?! I couldn't believe it. It must've been a strategy thing. The only questions they asked related to that were: 1) do you think police automatically tell the truth?, 2) would you weigh their testimony like anyone else's?, and 3) have you had bad/good experiences with police officers? That was it. I was speechless. I knew the area of town where they commited their crime, and all that surrounded it. That was the part they wanted you to be impartial about, and there was no way I could've agreed they didn't know where they were, or be impartial at all!!! I couldn't believe it.

Jury duty in Philadelphia pays $9 a day. That does not cover parking so I use public transit - about $4.80 First time I was called I made it to a panel of 40 but was dismissed because the asst. DA grew up across the street from me. Bye-bye. Another time it was a medical malpractice case. They asked if anyone had a medical background and I said I assisted during surgery in Vietnam. See 'ya. Another time they wanted to know if I knew any policemen or firemen. My BIL's a firefighter. Later. Another time I was called down on 12/23 which was a Friday that year. I thought it was odd because most businesses give you a half day off on Christmas Eve, or the day before if the 24th is on a Saturday. Well they started taking groups of 40 but instead of 'This next group will go to judge xxx, room xxx.' they just called names. I smelled a rat. Out we went into the hallway, got our $9 checks and were dismissed. Someone had not programmed the automatic mailouts correctly, and they didn't have the guts to tell 600 people they took a day off from work unnecessarily. I was home by 10:30. I did get on a murder case in '03. The guy got convicted because he made a call from jail - that got recorded - asking his mother to get a witness to change his story. He only got 3rd degree because some of the jurors said they would not agree to any conviction that could get him the death penalty no matter who/how many people he killed. I really don't mind jury duty because it's better than working. I do realize that I'm one of the lucky few that still gets paid regular wages.

I've served on three juries. First one was a horrific child abuse case with disturbing details which stay with me to this day. Second was a drug possession case in which I learned more about crack than I needed to know! And third was a speeding ticket. When I was in college and got called, I always opted out (full time student), but hated doing so because I figured it would be fun and interesting. Boy was I wrong! That first case was so disturbing. I simply do not want to know these kinds of things. The second one was actually very interesting while we were in the courtroom, but in the jury room we had to deal with an idiotic juror who (I believe) wanted to be center of attention. She made everything extremely difficult and Friday afternoon when they came in and said we either had to decide or would have to come back on Monday, she suddenly gave in. OY! And the speeding ticket! In a notorious speed trap which I happened to know about because I'd lived near it for years. We had to listen to the defendant's attorney (for a speeding ticket!) ask the same questions over and over again to the cop about his radar gun. That street is four lanes and just begs to be speeded on and the limit is 30mph and there is ALWAYS at least one cop with a radar gun on that mile or so stretch. What a waste of 12 people's time, not including the judge and everyone else. So, at this point, I'm sorta jaded about jury duty. I know it needs to be done and I will go again when called but I really do feel I've done my duty!!

I've been called 3 times, served once. Where I live, you're not exactly called - you get a letter stating that for a certain 2-week period you're basically "on-call" and if you are needed, the clerk of the court notifies you by phone the night before you're to appear for possible jury selection. They call about 30 people or so, then choose the jury from that pool. First time was a civil case, and I was on the jury, second time was a criminal case and my name was called, but didn't get picked - you have to be ok'd by each attorney, and I guess I wasn't. The third time, was called the night before, and wasn't chosen from the pool to even be interviewed, so went home that day, and waited out my two weeks. The Wednesday evening of the second week, I said to my family "Well, looks like they don't need me, or they would have called" and DS said ..."oh....Mom....uh...they did call a few nights ago (I worked evenings) and you're supposed to have gone to Courtroom #--- at 8 a.m." Great!!! I wondered when the Deputy of the Court was going to show up at our door to arrest me for evading jury duty, or something. Geesh! I called first thing the next morning and they said no problem - they just picked someone else! I'd be glad to serve again, do see it as my duty, and the one time I was on a jury, it was an interesting experience, but I'm probably now on some kind of black list or something. DS felt SO bad.